Random observations from your day

[Pyraxis]

I learned a few days abo that it's possible to regrow the ends of regular store bought onions by suspending the roots in water, and grow a who.e new edible onion. In the current spirit of self sufficiency I'm testing it out, and already see some new root tendrils on my spring onion ends.

I'd kinda had the impression that Monsanto and the like had rendered most store bought veg sterile due to absurd copyrights, so I'm happy to learn that's not always the case.

[Genesis]

The sky is blue, the rain happened... and I was asleep until 3:03pm Local Time today

WHAT THE *FRACK!?![/b]

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

Great to see you, as always, Walkie.

Not too many extra long posts these days, with Al and Lestat missing in action. Yours, at least, are always interesting and don't boil down to "Odeon is a poo poo head and he was mean to me once".

We are not yet in full lockdown but I had to cut short an overseas trip and I am not allowed to leave the house. 7 days of self quarantine down, 7 to go.

I don't envy your food intolerances. Mine are annoying enough and they are mild by comparison. I suspect my food intolerances started at the same place my bad teeth did, with heavy doses of tetracycline when I were a wee lad.

[odeon]

Lots of people walking their dogs.

[Walkie]

Great to see you, as always, Walkie.

Not too many extra long posts these days, with Al and Lestat missing in action. Yours, at least, are always interesting and don't boil down to "Odeon is a poo poo head and he was mean to me once".

We are not yet in full lockdown but I had to cut short an overseas trip and I am not allowed to leave the house. 7 days of self quarantine down, 7 to go.

I don't envy your food intolerances. Mine are annoying enough and they are mild by comparison. I suspect my food intolerances started at the same place my bad teeth did, with heavy doses of tetracycline when I were a wee lad.

hey! thanks
"Odeon is a poo-poo head"" made me chuckle
I looked up tetracycline. It wasn't clear from the info I found, why it would have those effects? I'm now  curious about that.

['andersom']

I learned a few days abo that it's possible to regrow the ends of regular store bought onions by suspending the roots in water, and grow a who.e new edible onion. In the current spirit of self sufficiency I'm testing it out, and already see some new root tendrils on my spring onion ends.

I'd kinda had the impression that Monsanto and the like had rendered most store bought veg sterile due to absurd copyrights, so I'm happy to learn that's not always the case.

Planted a few in the garden over a year ago. Have been harvesting a lot from the plants. They bloomed last summer. To my utter surprise they started budding the end of February. That's what they still are doing. It's too cold to bloom.

[SBI_Patience]

The UK government have told us not to gather in groups and a maximum of 2 people without social distancing, however. I see a group of 6 walking casually as if nothing has happened or haven't heard of we are on lockdown?

[odeon]

I had a doctor's appointment in the city this morning and everything was eerily quiet. Not many people out and about.

[DirtDawg]

My front yard is making a statement, for sure. About a third of my daffodils, all my crocuses, very early species tulips and all my alliums are either blooming or about to. Surprised to see the Turkish tulips up and blooming with the others.
It has been a weird winter. Never really got super cold, like twenty below zero Fahrenheit or anything. Rained a lot. Barely snowed.

No blooms from the Allium plants, such as decorative garlic, flowering chives, etc. but those types make their first show with stiff spiky foliage. Very fetching. There will not be any blooms from this genus until July, around here.

Really miss having daffodils. There's no winter so they don't grow here.

No winter where I grew up, either. Never knew what I was missing, until I came to Indiana to live.
The only ones who had "spring bulbs" blooming in south Texas were large nurseries that had enough cool space to keep thousands of bulbs dormant at a degree above freezing for a few months, just to make the effort worth it all.

The game then becomes about finding the exact sub-species or cultivar of popular brilliant spring flowering bulbs which require the fewest weeks of dormancy to still put on a big show. Then, sell as many as you can!

Here I am enjoying bulbs that I planted ten or even fifteen years ago and they have survived with basic minimal care.

[DirtDawg]

I learned a few days abo that it's possible to regrow the ends of regular store bought onions by suspending the roots in water, and grow a who.e new edible onion. In the current spirit of self sufficiency I'm testing it out, and already see some new root tendrils on my spring onion ends.

I'd kinda had the impression that Monsanto and the like had rendered most store bought veg sterile due to absurd copyrights, so I'm happy to learn that's not always the case.

I have posted about this in many conversations over the many years I have been here.

Generally, if you are intending to plant the bottoms of fresh green spring onions AND you already have a garden bed prepared for just such a treasure, do not even bother with the roots in water trick. I keep a place for just these types of food scraps and I simply walk out with them after meal prep with a trowel and put them directly into the soil.

I place them about an inch deep and keep the area moist. I often see the first leaves above ground in just a few days.
I have also replanted fennel, lettuce, garlic (and mainly almost any vegetable that is complete with a root end attached will work) all which came from the grocery store.

Another tip about your spring onions: When you harvest, do not pull them up. Bring garden handheld  clippers with you and dig just under the soil and clip them, instead of pulling the whole thing up. That way you are not pulling the roots out disturbing them quite dramatically and then replanting them. Just leave them in place, clip the part you want to eat and the remaining undisturbed root will regrow much faster.

 

[DirtDawg]

Came back to this remembering you mentioned Monsanto.

There is probably more than a little hybridization underway which makes keeping seeds impossible and that is true of all those "big science" plant companies.

However, since you still have a viable root connected to your onion, you have the actual parent product and all the offspring will resemble the original plant. Main variables then revolve around the growing conditions.

Biggest problem I have encountered trying to re-root onions is when the original store batch was speed dried, using a low temperature, vacuum kiln drying process.
I suspect that this process does damage to the roots that does not "heal." 

[DirtDawg]

I learned a few days abo that it's possible to regrow the ends of regular store bought onions by suspending the roots in water, and grow a who.e new edible onion. In the current spirit of self sufficiency I'm testing it out, and already see some new root tendrils on my spring onion ends.

I'd kinda had the impression that Monsanto and the like had rendered most store bought veg sterile due to absurd copyrights, so I'm happy to learn that's not always the case.

Planted a few in the garden over a year ago. Have been harvesting a lot from the plants. They bloomed last summer. To my utter surprise they started budding the end of February. That's what they still are doing. It's too cold to bloom.

If you study the "flowers" you will find many tiny clumps of immature seeds. As they mature and dry they become viable. Since Allium is a biennial genus you will not get any bulbs the first year. Plenty of top growth, but the bulbs form in the second year.

[odeon]

Golf clubs are booming here. Swedish virus restrictions are comparatively mild so playing golf is OK for now.

[Phoenix]

Golf clubs are booming here. Swedish virus restrictions are comparatively mild so playing golf is OK for now.

People here are talking about how shocked they are that people there can do those kinds of things. It's getting a little judgy. 

[renaeden]

My stepdad is still playing golf a number of times per week. But the clubhouse is closed so he can't have a cold beer afterwards. He has to wait until he gets home.